


Before The Show

by kirtastrophe



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Interview, M/M, based on an interview i saw, joshler - Freeform, real interview, they're real good at acting like they're together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-26
Packaged: 2018-07-26 18:49:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7585846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kirtastrophe/pseuds/kirtastrophe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I watched an interview and this is what came from my imagination. (Chapter 2 and forward)<br/>Link to it will be at the end :-)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"So.. we're lucky enough to be backstage here at the Forum, the world famous Forum, with Twenty One Pilots, moments before the show..." the interviewer says, introducing the band to another Youtube video. 

Josh is lightly scratching his elbow and staring at the back of the man's head, while Tyler has a strange grin on his face. Today he is wearing a long-sleeved black button up and Josh is wearing a plain white t-shirt, along with a snapback, per usual. Before this they were having a deep discussion about how disgusting bananas are and how the fake candy banana flavor tastes nothing like them. _Why make it even worse than it already is? _, they had agreed.__

"Is there... Is there anything _special_ ," the man trails off, "that you guys do before you guys walk on stage in front of the crowd?"

Tyler turns to look at his friend, seemingly unaware of what Josh is about to say.

"Uhhh..." Josh looks at Tyler. Looking back at the man he blurts out "Like besides, like, kiss and stuff?"

Tyler's face contorts into a grin, and his face falls as he tries to hide his smile. He should be saying "gross, dude" and play-punching Josh right now, but instead he's overwhelmed with feelings. Happiness? No... Embarrassment? He's not even sure what he's feeling.

Meanwhile Josh tries to hold back from laughing, causing his eyes to squint and his mouth to look all funny.

"Besid- Yeah besides the emotional thi-" the man stutters, confused. "Y-Yes"

Josh finally laughs, but it comes out weak and sounding like "heh heh". Did he really just say that?

Tyler shifts and starts playing with the button on his sleeve; face already red and a small laugh escaping his chest.

Josh quickly tries to think something to say. _Change the subject!_ he thinks. "We don't kiss" he blurts out again, shyly scratching his face and looking away from the interviewer that is laughing with an expression that says "Yeah, you guys totally do". 

"Uh... I don't know. I- I- I... Like, I haven't been around bands enough to, like, see wh-what kinda like, crazy shenanigans people get into" Josh stutters horribly, trying to change the subject the best he can. He tries to ignore the fact that Tyler is standing right next to him, still playing with his shirt sleeve and staring at the ground.

The conversation turns serious again and the three of them relax. Soon afterwards the interviewer asks to see the rest of the place, and instead of going with them Tyler says he has to "start his ritual" and walks away down the hall.

\----


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler looked into Josh's eyes with such a pained expression that it physically hurt Josh. He could see all the worry and distress painted all over his face and it made him feel just the same. At this point he didn't care if he was about to do something stupid, he just wanted to see Tyler happy. He dropped his arm back to his side and said, "You'll have to keep your eyes closed."

\---1 week later---

"Hey man, do you have my red face paint-" Josh stopped in his tracks when he saw Tyler keeled over, sitting on his dressing room couch. He ran over from the door and sat next to him. He could hear that Tyler's breath was shallow and he was shaking uncontrollably. 

"Tyler! Oh, Tyler... You're having another panic attack..." Josh said sadly, knowing his friend all too well. Tyler had been acting strange all day and Josh had a feeling that this might happen. He cautiously rested his hand on Tyler's back, softly rubbing it back and forth. "Just take slow, even breaths. I'm right here." Josh said calmly, trying to relax the singer.

Tyler responded by leaning onto Josh and letting the drummer wrap his arms around him. "I'm sorry-" His voice was low and full of emotions.

"You don't have to be sorry Ty, it happens." Josh felt how cold Tyler's body was and tried his best to give his warmth to him. He didn't need it anyways. Whenever Tyler had episodes like this his chest would twist and hurt; he just wanted to see Tyler feeling better.

"I don't know what caused it. I felt fine when I woke up this morning, but I keep getting this thought in the back of my mind saying something will go wrong with the show tonight, and..." Tyler became lost in thought again and started shivering harder. "I hate anxiety. I hate it..."

"Well..." Josh tried to think of what to say to make him feel better. "Maybe you're overthinking it, I'm sure the show tonight will be just fine. There's lots of security-"

"It's not that. I don't know..." Tyler buried his face in Josh's chest, trying to let the strong scent of Josh's cologne distract him from his horrible thoughts. But no matter what he did, he still felt that horrible feeling throughout his whole body. He just couldn't shake it. "This horrible feeling isn't going away, Josh."

"Should we tell someone about this?" 

"No, no no no. The show isn't for a while, and I don't want to worry anyone else..."

"Okay." Josh wanted to tell someone about this, but not without Tyler's permission.

Tyler's mind was flooded with all the possibilities of what could go wrong. This wasn't the first time he had experienced this, that's for sure. Admittedly it had gotten worse ever since the major shootings had started happening around the world, and usually he felt safe with all the security around, but this time it just felt... wrong. He couldn't describe it. His head felt like it was filled with cotton and it was hard to focus on anything else no matter how hard he tried. His mind was stuck on full panic mode. He could barely feel Josh's hand rubbing his arm to warm it up.

"Nothing is helping..." Tyler whimpered, and suddenly he felt like crying. He felt like a big baby; not able to control his thoughts and his emotions.

"Is there anything I can do?" Josh was already trying, but maybe he wasn't trying hard enough. Something in the back of his mind told him that he wasn't being a good enough friend and he tried to push that thought away before he started having anxiety, too. What a mess that would be. "I mean, what can I do?"

"idunno" Tyler exhaled; his breathing became shallow again, being on the verge of another panic attack. "A-anything."

Josh tried to think of a solution, but nothing was coming up.

Suddenly an idea popped into his head, but it was beyond ridiculous. So ridiculous that it almost made him laugh. 

Actually... maybe it would be ridiculous enough to maybe distract Tyler from his anxiety/panic attack. He _did_ say "anything".

"Uhh..." Josh had no idea how to do this. Or propose it. "I have an idea, but it's crazy-"

"I don't care what it is." Tyler was slowly sinking into himself the longer Josh took. He knew that he had to do it now.

"Okay..." Josh carefully tried to get Tyler off of him, but he was having a hard time moving him. "You'll have to sit up for this."

Tyler obeyed, quickly hiding his face from Josh as he wiped his tears off his cheeks. Not like he had anything to hide, but he still felt like a baby for not being able to control himself. He wished he could be like Josh. He had never seen Josh cry before, so either he was very good at hiding his feelings or he was afraid of showing them to anyone, even Tyler.

Josh took a deep breath. This was either going to end up good or very, very bad. Maybe he should've thought this through more. But, after all, he was a pretty impulsive person.

"Close your eyes," Josh said softly, watching Tyler's eyes shut and his eyebrows move closer together. He watched a tiny tear roll down his cheek and he reached out to swipe it away; causing Tyler's eyes to open from the touch. Tyler looked into Josh's eyes with such a pained expression that it physically hurt Josh. He could see all the worry and distress painted all over his face and it made him feel just the same. At this point he didn't care if he was about to do something stupid, he just wanted to see Tyler happy. He dropped his arm back to his side and said, "You'll have to keep your eyes closed."

Tyler closed his eyes again, not even questioning what Josh was going to do. _It must take a lot of trust to be able to do something like that_ , Josh thought to himself. He hoped to God that he wasn't just about to mess it all up. He took one last look at Tyler's face and closed the gap between them.

\----

The first thing that Tyler felt was breath against his own lips. The warmth of Josh's breath and the thought of him being so close to his face sent a shock of electricity through his chest and his head suddenly felt more foggy than it already did. Well, he wasn't expecting this, that's for sure.

Josh softly brushed his bottom lip against Tyler's, as if to ask if this was okay. Tyler's breath hitched in his chest as he felt josh's lip against his own, and he repeated the same movement that Josh did. Josh took this as an "okay" and moved in closer, lightly pushing his full lips onto the singer's. 

Tyler's chest filled with a rush of warmth and it spread throughout his whole entire body. His stomach tightened as he took in a shaky breath through his nose, feeling Josh's lips move against his own. He couldn't believe this was happening. He didn't know he felt this strongly for Josh, or that Josh felt this strongly for him. All his thoughts were swept away as the drummer reached up and gently brushed his hand through Tyler's hair, causing shivers to go down his neck. _My God..._ , Tyler thought. _This feels amazing._

To Josh's surprise, Tyler was the one to deepen the kiss. Josh's lips felt dry against his own, but once he moved them in closer he could feel how soft they really were. He took Josh's bottom lip and gently sucked on it, making the drummer moan into Tyler's mouth. The noise sparked a fire deep inside his stomach and he began to kiss harder, wanting more, more, _more..._

Suddenly Josh pulled away, leaving Tyler's lips feeling cold instead of warm. He opened his eyes and saw Josh had turned the other way and covered his face with his hands.

"I..." Tyler was confused. "Oh God, I- Was I- Wait, Josh-"

The drummer chuckled, and with the most audible smile he said "No, it's okay. I'm just..." Josh uncovered his face and Tyler could see how red it was. "That was... _Wow_."

Tyler's stomach unwound and he let out a breathy laugh. "Yeah. Wow."

Josh scratched his head, his smile not fading away. "I didn't know you, uh..."

"I didn't know you did either." 

"Wow."

They finally turned to look at each other again, and the expression on their faces caused them to both fall into a laughing fit. Josh leaned onto Tyler as he laughed and it caused them to both fall over on the couch; Josh's face coming way too close to hitting Tyler's butt. This just caused Josh to laugh more as he pushed himself up, but he wasn't able to hold himself up for long. He fell back onto Tyler, and decided to tickle him, because he just couldn't get enough of the amazing sound that is Tyler laughing. It seemed to fuel a fire inside of him and he didn't want it to stop.

Tyler's laughs turned into a pained high pitched noise as Josh tickled his sides. "J-jOSH-I CA- AHA-CAN'T B- bRE- AHAHA- BREATHe- AHAHAHAHA-" Tyler was trying to get Josh off of him, but Josh was too strong. He managed to look up for a second and saw Josh's face contorted into a huge toothy grin; his tongue cutely pressed between his teeth. He could barely breathe, but good Lord Josh looked like a freaking angel. A big, goofy beautiful angel.

Josh finally stopped tickling Tyler, half because of the fact that he didn't want to actually hurt him, and half because he got distracted by how much he wanted to kiss him again. Tyler was still recovering from the tickle attack when Josh leaned down and kissed him; catching Tyler off guard. They both instantly melted into one another and Tyler let out a low moan as Josh accidentally rubbed his erection against Tyler's thigh. Josh was completely unaware that he even had an erection-

Suddenly there was a _very_ loud alarm vibrating throughout the building. They both shot up from where they were laying and covered their ears; barely even able to hear Mark (nearly) break through the door to Tyler's dressing room, face full of panic. 

"JOS- OH THERE YOU GUYS ARE" Mark yelled, trying to speak over the alarm noise. He ran over to them and took their hands, yelling "WE NEED TO GET OUT. THE BUILDING IS ON FIRE."

The building was on fire? _When did that happe-_ Josh's thoughts were cut short when they got into the hallway and saw the plume of smoke rising into the air from a close by doorway.

"I knew something bad was going to happen..." Tyler muttered quietly, his heart sinking back down to his stomach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> STILL NEW TO THIS WHOLE WRITING THING FORGIVE ME

**Author's Note:**

> next chapter coming very soon!
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzferjSAyoQ


End file.
